


A First Time For Everything

by Altenprano



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: But he gets better?, Gen, Temporary Death, because we all love that idea, behold my very loose interpretation of how revivify works, caleb is squishy and nothing else is new, jester worries about being a bad cleric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 16:11:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14814602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Altenprano/pseuds/Altenprano
Summary: Jester isn't prepared when Caleb goes down in a fight- like, when he goes down and doesn't get up goes down. Well, she does have the right components this time, and the Traveler showed her how to cast the spell, so everything should be fine, right? Only one way to find out.





	A First Time For Everything

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt from Anonymous on tumblr: "Jester's first time using Revivify." 
> 
> A small warning, because, you know, someone has to be dead for Revivify to do anything, Caleb is temporarily dead.

Caleb was the first of them to go down in a fight.

It was going to happen sooner or later, and so when it happened, Jester knew she couldn’t hold it against him. After all, Caleb didn’t wear armor like the rest of them, nor was he as fast as Beau, so of course it didn’t take a lot for him to go down.

Even though she did expect it to happen, Jester wasn’t any more prepared for it.

Well…in terms of material components for the Revivify spell the Traveller had shown her, she was prepared (though Fjord _did_ have to remind her when they reached the city—still, she had the diamonds, didn’t she?), but she wasn’t sure if she was prepared for the actual casting.

Sure, the Traveler had shown her, like he’d shown her how to do all of her spells, but this one was harder. There was more to remember than just the right prayer or gesture, and things could actually go _wrong_.

“Jester!” Beau called from where she was standing guard over Caleb’s lifeless form, though the direwolves they’d been fighting had been, for the most part, dealt with. The monk stood in a ready position, prepared to fight off anything that would disrupt the rituatial. “If you could hurry up. I’m not sure how much time—”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Jester picked up her skirt and ran as fast as she could to Caleb’s side, ignoring the snicker from Molly. Her tail lashed back and forth as she dug through her haversack, looking for the diamonds. “Don’t worry Caleb. You’re not going to die. I’m not going to let you die,” she muttered.

She really didn’t want Caleb to die. If he died, who would buy her pastries and listen to her talk about her mother and Nicodranas? Okay, that was a bit selfish of her, but she didn’t want Caleb to die. She would miss him if he died, and she knew Nott would miss him even more.

“Caleb!” Nott ran to the wizard’s side, eyes wide. Her ears drooped at the sight of Caleb—her son, Jester remembered, Caleb was her boy-- lying on the ground, not breathing. “Bring him back! You have to bring him back!”

“I am!” Jester snapped, retrieving the diamonds from the depths of the haversack. She didn’t mean to snap, but, gods, this was stressful. She didn’t know what she was doing. What if she fucked up? “I…I need space. Nott, I need space.”

Not looking to see if the goblin had moved, Jester set to work, arranging the diamonds just like the Traveller had showed her. She pressed her lips together as she made sure they were perfect, because what if they weren’t and what if that messed up the spell? What kind of cleric would she be if she let her friend die?

“Jester…Is there, is there anything you need us to do?” She saw Fjord’s shadow where Nott had been, and heard the hesitation in his voice.

She shook her head, though really, she didn’t know if there was anything else she needed.

All that was left was to pray.

“Traveler, please don’t let Caleb die,” she prayed, eyes squeezed shut. “Please bring him back. You’re my best friend in the whole world but he’s my friend too. Please bring him back so I can tell him stories again, and play with Frumpkin, and so Nott isn’t sad, and so I can keep drawing dicks in his spell book because I think that makes him smile, and he needs to smile more. Please don’t let him die, please. I still need to show him a hamster unicorn. Please? You showed me this spell so I could help my friends, and I’m trying, I really am. I know I’m not the best, but I am trying.”

She felt a familiar presence settle overtop her hands, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the familiar verdant eyes of the Traveller across from hers, and saw his hands pressed over hers, which were glowing with holy energy.

Tears welled in her eyes as she watched the color return to Caleb’s cheeks as the diamonds disappeared with her vision of the Traveller, and once his eyes were open, she swept the wizard into a bear hug.

“You’re alive!” she exclaimed, her tears those of happiness and relief. “I did it! I did it—you’re alive!”

It took Caleb a moment to recover (of course, because he’d been dead a few moments ago, and Jester was sure it wasn’t fun, to go from dead one minute to living the next), and once he did, he returned the cleric’s embrace, still looking a little dazed. “Thank you,” he said, and Jester released him, so he could breathe, and also because Nott waiting expectantly off to the side.

“It’s what I’m here for, right? To make sure you don’t die,” she said this jokingly, just as she always had, though now it was with a little more understanding that she did so. It was her job to make sure her friends didn’t die, and not just the squishy ones. Maybe she needed to be a bit more serious, and ask the Traveler to teach her more. “Though the Traveler is the one who brought you back, which is like, totally awesome.”

“Maybe so, but I don’t think he could have done it with out his best cleric, no?”

Jester felt herself blush. “I’m not _that_ good, not really.”

“I think you’re getting there, kid,” Beau said, pulling Jester into a sort of side hug and ruffling her hair (it was slightly awkward, but Jester knew Beau wasn’t really good with people, and, as far as previous attempts went, this was actually pretty good). “I mean, I’m not expert, but like, I couldn’t do that.”

“That’s because you’re not a cleric, silly.” Jester wrapped both arms around Beau’s waist, and squeezed the older girl tight. “But maybe I could teach you!”

Beau gave a nervous laugh. “Uh, I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said. “You’ve seen how good I am with people, and I don’t want to rub a god the wrong way.”

“You could be a cleric for the Traveler, like me! He’s a really chill dude, and he thinks you’re pretty funny.”

Whatever reply Beau might’ve given was cut off when Mollymauk announced, “I don’t know about you all, but I have had enough of this wilderness. The next town can’t be but another hour, and so let’s keep moving, so we can all have good booze and a nice bed tonight. Doesn’t that sound good? We can drink to Caleb not dying there.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this, and I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> It was really fun to write from Jester's point of view, because she's such a wonderful character, and I hope I did her justice. 
> 
> Thank you for your continued support!


End file.
